Sharing Lightroom Catalog with Multiple Computers

If you have more than one computer at your home to work on your photos with Lightroom, you might be wondering if there is a way to share your Lightroom catalog, so that you can work on the same images with the same catalog on multiple computers at once. Unfortunately, the database system that Lightroom runs on (SQLite) limits the catalog to be used on a single computer, on a locally attached drive. Hence, simultaneously accessing a single catalog with multiple machines is not supported and will not work. On top of that, Adobe strictly forbids placing catalogs on network volumes, because it can result in all kinds of Lightroom database corruption issues (placing photographs on a network share is supported). In short, Lightroom is a “single-user” application with no support for multi-user access. While some people have been requesting a “multi-user” edition of Lightroom, Adobe currently has no plans to make such Lightroom version due to potential complexities of such software. True multi-user applications require a server and client infrastructure, which can be too complex for most photographers to set up and use.

So what are the options for using a Lightroom catalog on multiple computers? Let’s take a look at some options:

Keep a Lightroom catalog together with photographs on an external drive. As long as the external drive is mounted on each computer with the same drive letter, makes the process very simple to manage. You attach a network drive to one computer, work on Lightroom, then dismount the drive and attach it to another to work from there. A relatively good solution if you have a home and work PC and need to be able to work on the same catalog, but with multiple machines at different times. Lightroom performance is somewhat slow, because the catalog, image previews and photos are all stored on the same drive and external drives are typically slower in comparison to locally attached internal storage. The backup process is also simple – only the external drive needs to be backed up.

Keep a Lightroom catalog on a local drive and manually copy the catalog between multiple computers, while storing photographs on an internal/external drive or a network share. Requires designating one computer to be a “master”, which holds the latest and the most current version of the catalog. If another computer makes changes to the catalog, the catalog file must be copied back from that computer to the “master”, since regular backups are performed on the main machine for consistency reasons. Since either machine can potentially add new or update existing photographs (while importing, moving or editing images), photographs must be stored separately in a common location either on an internal/external drive, or on a network share. This method allows to keep Lightroom catalog away from photographs for faster overall performance.

Keep a Lightroom catalog on cloud storage such as Dropbox (with cloud storage client installed on each computer), while storing photographs on an internal/external drive or a network share. Requires reliable and high-speed Internet connection when syncing. Dropbox only does incremental copy, which means that newly added data can be synchronized somewhat quickly between computers. However, one needs to make sure that Dropbox is set up to only synchronize the Lightroom catalog (image previews should be excluded via “Selective Sync” feature on all computers). This solution can work relatively well, but there is a risk of having inconsistent data. Each machine writes its own data into the cloud and if the catalog is not fully synchronized between the cloud and the machines (due to slow Internet or Internet service issues), there is a risk of potentially losing data or changes to the catalog file. You must wait for synchronization to complete on all machines (upload and download) after closing Lightroom before opening the same catalog on another one.

Each method works just fine and I have tried all three. The first method was rather slow for me, so I opted for #2, which lets me keep the catalog file in a fast SSD drive, while accessing photos from a mirrored RAID array. The RAID array volume is located on the main computer (as the “D” drive), which is shared with other computers via local network (all computers are connected to a gigabit switch). I mount the network share as the “D” drive on other computers, so that I don’t have to locate missing images each time when I copy the Lightroom catalog back and forth between computers. The #3 method with Dropbox can work well with smaller catalog files, but I just find it easier and faster to copy it from the master computer to other computers over the fast internal network.

No matter how you look at the process, it is still rather painful to use. I wish there was a simpler way to access Lightroom catalogs from multiple machines. Ideally, it would be great if a single catalog could be opened on multiple machines at once. Then all we would need to do would be to place photos in a common location, so that all computers could read from and write to the same photo library. Unfortunately, with the way Adobe stores Lightroom catalog data today, it is impossible to achieve this currently…

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

If you enjoyed reading this article, please consider subscribing to our email newsletter to receive biweekly emails notifying you of the latest articles posted on the website. Email Address First Name

By checking this box I consent to the use of my information, as detailed in the Privacy Policy.

Related articles:

About Nasim Mansurov

Nasim Mansurov is the author and founder of Photography Life, based out of Denver, Colorado. He is recognized as one of the leading educators in the photography industry, conducting workshops, producing educational videos and frequently writing content for Photography Life. You can follow him on Instagram, 500px and Facebook. Read more about Nasim here.

Reader Interactions

Comments

1) Don

May 12, 2012 at 1:07 am

Thanks for another great article Nasim. You are spot on. As Aperture has the ability to import and export partial libs and to combine them with other libs I stick with it, even though in my opinion LR is currently a better app due to its more advanced features. I operate at home with my main library on a Thunderbolt drive which is fast enough to do live processing. However when I travel I use a 1TB FW 800 drive which is also fast enough to do processing while I am away from the main lib. Once back home, I simply re-import the back and it syncs with my main home lib. If you are a traveling photographer, it seems that Aperture would be a more efficient solution…

Hi Nasim, To circumvent the risks involved in the 3rd method I prefer (and actually use) slightly different approach, combining 2 and 3. – I work with the local copies of the Lightroom catalogs on my computers. – Then I setup the catalogs I want to share to be backuped when I quit the Lightroom. As a backup location I choose the local copy of my Dropbox folder – When I start to work on the other computer first I look at the Dropbox location and check if a catalog copy stored there is most recent compared to the local catalog I recently worked with. If yes, then I copy it manually from Dropbox to the destination and then start Lightroom.

The last step could be automated. I still plan to explore the Lightroom plugin API (application programming interface) for the possibilites of embedding the last step into a plugin.

Although my approach involves some extra steps, it gives me some extra confidence: if something goes wrong with the Dropbox synchronization, I always have at least one extra copy of the catalog on one of my computers.

I would like to do this with mine. I have a super fast internet speed (1gbps DL + 50mbps UL). All my photos are stored in Dropbox. Both Mac’s have access to them. However, I just got the MacBook Pro and my iMac was the main editing computer until now. So Im wanting to enable both computers to access the catalog, if possible. I would rather start using the MacBook Pro more for the touch ups.

With all that said, do you have any suggestions or a tutorial on how I can access my latest catalog that’s on the iMac from my MacBook Pro to pick up where I left off and keep going?

My solution is similar to the firts method you described. I have my catalogue on a single harddrive, that I take with me during my outside shots and add the new photos to it. At home I only copy the new pics to may general storage volume. I only have to reconnect the new pics again afterwords. But the peformance is quite good. Yours Harald

The best method is option 1, since catalog and photos are in the same place, but using Sata external drive instead of doing through slower USB or FireWire. If your computer does not have external SATA port, attach long SATA cable to the motherboard and run it outside the computer case. Attach it to a BlacX or other brand hot swappable drive connector and you can pop high capacity internal type hard drives in and out. Cheaper than buying external drives and as fast as your internal drive. If your second computer is older laptop without SATA port, you can get card that supports SATA port. :-)

This is what I was looking for. I had planned on doing the same to ‘trick’ the app. I presume you’ve got this going in production? What are you using for disk(s) and kind of performance are you seeing? I’ve got gig to the desktops and a couple of disk array options, but I’m wondering how thin I can go with the disks. I’ve got 72k SATA and 15k SAS arrays but I’d really like to avoid using my ‘top shelf’ disks for this… Thanks, CH

Lightroom works with SUBST mapping but not WindowsExplorer/NET USE mappings.

Not sure why this is but great tip.

Some notes: a SUBST drive will signficantly impact performance if the remote is down. Deleting files are deleted immediately and not moved to the recycle bin. Accessing the catalog from two machines simultaneously is risky – sqlite doesn’t support this scenario.

David, I would like to set something like this up however I am not fully understanding how. I have my RAWS on an external thunderbolt drive that I move between the 2 computers. Can I just create a new shared folder to store my LR cat in? I don’t understand “map the network share to a drive” Help!

Thank Nasim. As always, your articles are spot on. Sharing LR catalogs between computers could open up all sorts of different workflows. For instance, assistants, interns, co-workers or spouses could help with the post production process while keeping everything in one catalog.

At Mosaic, we are working on making multi-computer LR catalog access available to photographers. We are about to release our CloudViewer product that will enable access to your LR images instantly from anywhere. Your most recent 2,000 LR images will be free. This is the first stage in this process.

Please sign up on our website to be notified when this feature is available. Again, great article!

+1 for Marcin I do something close to that as well: originals are on home NAS, to which I also backup catalog every time I exit Lightroom. When I open another computer, just need to restore latest backup of the catalog.

Hi Nasim (and co.), I will join the legions of fans you have carefully and deservedly built up by adding my thanks to you and everyone else at PhotographyLife (the website formerly known as The Mansurovs!). I think you capture everything that’s great about technical sites like DPReview but in a much more down-to-earth way. An excellent job well done!

I just wanted to know if you guys had tried out Mosaic View yet? It purports to allow editing of Lightroom catalogs in the cloud across multiple computers. I am just about to test it out now to see how it works on my MacBook Air before trying it out on my office iMac on Monday morning.

We allow anywhere access to your Lightroom images. This isn’t exactly sharing a Lightroom catalog across multiple computers but is more meant to give photographers access to any of their photos, collections and metadata instantly and automatically from any device (including your iPad.)

We hope to support a full Lightroom in the cloud feature list in the future.

Nasim, I am a big fan of this blog. We tweet about you guys all of the time. Would love to chat with you about our services. gerard (at) mosaicarchive (dot) com

Thanks for clearing that up for me – after much searching for it and reading some of the blurbs from Petapixel and other links regarding the product, it does sound as if Mosaic has the ability to edit Lightroom catalogs from across multiple computers – or perhaps I am just reading them incorrectly?

In its current form, what differences are there from simply exporting Lightroom images into a Dropbox folder to store / view them? Does Lightroom allow you to import and sync images from the Mosaic cloud?

I wish Adobe would hurry and get their act together with Creative Cloud – there are undoubtedly thousands of photographers out there who use a computer at home or in the office and also a laptop in the field who would love to be able to edit and then sync photos from the same catalogs across multiple computers – and who don’t want the hassle of using external drives, etc.

You are right when said that each way in the list is painful. And there is a potential risk of losing information due to simultaneous access to the single Catalog. Each Lightroom catalog is an SQLite database that was designed for standalone usage only.

Could you please review our Daminion also. Unlike LR, Daminion allows to create a single image archive in a local network that can be safely accessed from multiple computers. Thanks to xmp all the information about images added in LR will be visible in Daminion, and visa versa. So you can use both products simultaneously: LR to adjust raw files and Daminion to share image library accross the local network.

There is a function called “Import from Another Catalog” specifically made for that. It allows you to move photos from one catalog to another. It can copy the master if you wish and can detect existing images and sync the settings (in virtual copies or not).

My way:

– One catalog shouldn’t contain images from another drive that this catalog resides on. – I keep one catalog per external drive containing all the images that is on that drive. – I keep one “work in progress” catalog per computer. – I import ONLY once in any of the above catalog. – I use the “Import From Another Catalog” function to move images from one catalog/computer/drive to the other. (e.g. when pushing changes from my “work in progress” catalog to external drives, or bringing old images back in my “work in progress” catalog if I need to re-work photos)

By following these rules and method, I have all my settings, metadata, etc. synchronized amongst all drives/computers.

You should use the functionality provided by the software when there is one…

Hi. I have tried to do that but it doesn’t import the Develop settings.. It only imports the photos unretouched. (even when I select import metadata etc..) I have created a test catalogue with 5 images in it to try it before to move my real catalogue to the shared folder. (yes, cos I have created a shared folder to link my 2 imacs. The test catalogue that I’m trying to import is in it. It’s in Finder/Shared/Shared images etc.. ) I have changed one of the 5 images to b&w but it only imports the original one.. Any idea? Many thanks.

Thanks for this post. I use a similar method to André’s and it has proven to be the best so far. However, since I shoot weddings and stack thousands of images, I do not store my catalogs the same way. I have a master catalog (one per year) on the imac (internal drive), backed up to the RAID for redundancy. You can work on your fast SSD drive of your laptop (“work in progress” catalog) export the catalog to your network, external or RAID and simply “Import from another catalog” to have all your changes “synced” to your master catalog. All you have to do is relocate the files in Lightroom. It might sound painful but it really isn’t. There are a lot of things you can do using this method, whether you need to have your full (master) catalog on both computers at all times or not.

A slight variation on Method 1 that works fine for me. As my photos are loaded to a NAS drive it is a common storage spot for my computers. The catalog I use is on a 64GB USB drive that I plug into the PC that I wish to work from at the moment. The NAS drive photos are synced to a second NAS drive should something go wrong with the primary. The USB catalog is backed up up to a third NAS drive as required. So far so good.

Microsoft plans to end support for Windows XP on April 8, but there are still many users whose computers run the outdated software. That’s why the company has asked tech-savvy users to encourage their friends to upgrade their computers or buy new ones. In a recent blog post, the Redmond, Wash., company said readers of its Windows blog are likely running a more modern version of the operating system, but their friends and family may not be. “We need your help spreading the word to ensure people are safe and secure on modern up-to-date PCs,” Microsoft said in its blog . PHOTOS: 10 ways to use the sharing economy Microsoft will no longer run tech support for users of the 12-year-old Windows XP software or issue updates that protect the operating system from viruses after April 8. The problem is many users still run Windows XP and either don’t want to upgrade their machines or don’t know that they need to. In the post, Microsoft said tech-savvy users should encourage their friends to check and see if their computers are capable of upgrading to Windows 8.1, the latest version of the computer software. More to buy :shopcomputech.com/

I’ve got a laptop and a desktop, and I like to edit on-the-go, so having a share photo library isn’t really an option for me. However, I do have an theory of how to get this working – could someone let me know if this will work how I expect? I’ve read the article and the comments, and it’s a little different!

1. Have master catalog on desktop, along with all photos on a local drive 2. Copy catalog to laptop. Obviously most of the photos won’t be available and I’ll be warned as such, but that’s fine 3. Add photos to, and make edits on, the laptop catalog 4. When moving back to desktop, first import the photos to the relevant folder on my desktop, then copy the lightroom folder back onto the desktop, overwriting the original catalog. 5. Open the updated catalog in LR, and ignore the “we can’t find this folder” message. Update the location of the folders that were created on the laptop to their location on the desktop, and voila. Everything’s on my desktop, edits and all.

Will this work? Have I forgotten anything important? I really don’t want to test this, as it’s pretty risky – I don’t want to lose everything!

If you need it to be networked locally, available on multiple computers (but only actively used by one at a time) you can also create & mount an ISCSI volume and put the catalog & pictures on it. If you have gigabit network and a good NAS is very fast.

Well, if one knows not to power on both machines or connect/disconnect iSCSI properly, then it is not a problem. Otherwise, best to copy the catalog locally, work on files, then copy the catalog back to the main location.

Is there any change to these recommendations since you published this article?

I run a Mac Mini with an external Thunderbolt drive where the RAW images are stored, and am not sure how to handle the catalog and previews, so I can use LR 5 on my laptop occasionally. Any new recommendations are appreciated. (I would prefer not to have the monthly subscription to Lightroom and Photoshop, but if that is dramatically superior, could be persuaded…)

Has this changed with LR5? I don’t even want to work on 2 computers simultaneously, I just want to be able to work on editing pics with my new laptop in another room vs the “main” computer that contains the catalog when I feel like it. Why can’t I just access the catalog over my Homegroup network? That would be ideal. I’ve seen several “solutions” to this but it’s frustrating – none of them are simple and it’s a PITA to have to either work with a slower drive, continually copy the catalog back & forth, or have to “export” and merge a catalog every time. Adobe needs to solve this problem. I guess (?) working with the CC would do it, but wow, I don’t want to go there.

OK, so much of this is over my head… I think the best solution for me is to export my work on the laptop to a (T)temporary catalog, then merge it back into the main catalog on the desk computer. I hope to be able to copy the T catalog over the network, then import/merge it with the main catalog. Here’s my question.. If the photos I worked on with the laptop ( now in the T catalog) are already in the main catalog, what will happen when I try to import the new edits into the main catalog?

Hi. I have tried to manually copy the catalog that but it doesn’t import the Develop settings.. It only imports the photos unretouched. (even when I select import metadata etc..)

I have created a test catalogue with 5 images in it to try it before to move my real catalogue to the shared folder. (yes, cos I have created a shared folder to link my 2 imacs. The test catalogue that I’m trying to import is in it. It’s in Finder/Shared/Shared images etc.. ) I have changed one of the 5 images to b&w but it only imports the original one.. Any idea? Many thanks.

I keep my catalogs centralized on network shares since first version of Lightroom without any issues. There are multiple ways of doing it, but the simplest (and the best in my opinion) is to use the subst command like this –> subst p: \\nas\photos

I set up a NAS running FREENAS and set up ISCSI My computers see this as a local drive as if it was inside the PC you’re working on. EG d:\ not a network share as in \\NAS\NetworkDrive and with a few tricks I can also access this from the internet again it’s seen as a local drive.

Maybe I have overlooked something but i did try to export an Catalog from my laptop and import it on my stationary computer, all was good except i couldn’t have the same folder name, somehow i got an masterfolder called desktop?? But anyway, what i needed and what I also think other readers wants is that if i Edit/postprocess pictures in Lightroom on the laptop during a shootout/holiday whatever and then copy the folder to the main computer without loosing all the editing and meta date changes right! So i can start my work on the run and finish it when i am back home. I tried to save Metadata to all my files/pictures on the laptop in Lightroom, then i got this extra xml file, ok! Then if simply just copy or move that folder from my laptop to my main computer, open up Lightroom on that, i still have all the same editing changes to those files.

“…which can be too complex for most photographers to set up and use.” Adobe, that’s dumb. You’re right, most photographers won’t need to set up and use an enterprise edition of Lightroom. But where that need DOES exist, that’s usually when they are going to have IT support to handle the hard part. It really blows my mind that Adobe won’t think bigger in this case. The need is there, believe me.

My problem with the catalog is this. I want to have the catalog on an external HD to use it wherever I want: Home (Windows 10), on the road (Macbook), at the office (Windows 10). Since Windows and OSX name the disk differently – Windows with the drive letter in front (e.g. C: F: G:) and OSX with only the name of the drive (Verbatim HD), every time I switch from one system to another I have to relocate the drive. Is there a workaround?

Using GoodSync on my office PC and also on my laptop makes it very easy and safe way to travel and be in sync with the office PC whenever a decent internet connection is available. GoodSync is a fantastic app I have been using for a few years. Having one copy on each computer and creating a P2P connection between them is so simple, fast and secure and there is no cost for the P2P facility. Your files are not being held on an intermediate server during the sync. This method is so easy I even use it to sync both machines when I’m working in the office.

Nasim, thank you for this article. I’ve been using my laptop as my main computer with an external monitor, but for a variety of reasons I am now setting up a desktop, and have questions about how to manage my images and catalogs on both computers. I’ve always used your second method, with my catalog on my hard drive and images on an external drive. For my new desktop I copied my catalog and previews to the hard drive, but on my new computer it calls my external drive I:, when it was D: on my laptop. I can’t choose D: as a drive name on my new desktop because that is assigned to the DVD/RW drive. Can I rename the external drive to I: on my laptop, then somehow direct LR to that letter drive and still have my catalog recognize it? On both computers?

Like others, I’ve got my images stored on an NAS box attached to my home network.

The LR catalog files are stored locally and synced using Resilio Sync (ex BTSync). This works very well and I’ve had no issues whatsoever. Just make certain Resilio is done syncing the folders before opening LR on another computer.

I had tried to make this work with Google Drive, but was continually having issues with corrupted cache/catalog files.

Great article! Before I reached this site I setup my catalog sharing using exactly what is described on option 3, using Dropbox and selectively excluding the previews folders from sync as they are quite huge. To keep it even safe, I also added my catalogs (auto) backups in another folder inside Adobe CC storage, so an additional redundant system in case of unavailability of dropbox cloud for any reason. Currently running flawless but, as indicated, keep your eyes on dropbox sync whether is finished before open the same catalog in another computer otherwise you will end up with conflicts. I also setup a daily backup of lightroom settings in above backup folder but a new feature introduced recently on Lightroom Classic makes easy to keep setting together with you catalog. cheeers

Comment Policy: Although our team at Photography Life encourages all readers to actively participate in discussions, we reserve the right to delete / modify any content that does not comply with our Code of Conduct, or do not meet the high editorial standards of the published material.

Footer

Site Menu

Privacy & Cookies: Our partners will collect data and use cookies for ad personalization and measurement. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use. To find out more, including how to control cookies, please see our Privacy Policy